Coordinator
Sérgio Hamilton da Silva Barra

http://www.nirema.puc-rio.br

Nirema is a complementary unit of PUC-Rio linked to the History, Social Work, Sociology and Politics Departments.

It is a research and documentation center of the African Brazilian culture. It develops activities and interdisciplinary initiatives that involve representatives from PUC-Rio´s faculty and staff.

Nirema activities involve not only professors from PUC-Rio but also have a body of associate researches belonging to other educational institutions in Brazil and abroad.

Main Goals

• Comparative studies between Brazil and other multicultural societies, specially the US and Canada, as well as African and Latin American countries.
• Promotion of interdisciplinary and comparative research between Brazilian society and other countries, related to afrodescendent cultural patrimony.
• Systematical construction, maintenance and growth of an afrodescendent  documentation and memory center; • Development and achievements of Nirema´s activities.
• Creation of academic disciplines related to afrodescendent  diaspora in Brazil and America, and also about contemporary African societies, in the undergraduate, graduate and continuing education levels.
• Creation and development of curricula and didactical and pedagogical material for the high and elementary levels of study, concerning themes related to the afrodescendent  cultural patrimony